Colorado's Florissant Valley lies 35 miles west of Colorado Springs on the flanks of Pikes Peak. To the north and east, the Rocky Mountains dominate the skyline. To the west lies high meadow land with large expanses of undulating native grasses so beautiful that early fur trappers to the area referred to it as a park. In the summer the grassy meadows are filled with the colored mists of thousands of wild flowers.

In the center of this lush valley stands the Hornbek homestead complex, the home of a strong, determined woman who came to the area with her four children in the 1870s. Claiming land under the Homestead Act, Adeline Hornbek defied traditional gender roles to become the owner of a prosperous ranch.

This lesson is based on the Hornbek Homestead, which is within the boundaries of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places.